Once Upon the End (Half Upon a Time) (11 page)

CHAPTER 21

A
s Jack fell toward the boiling stew, he concentrated, closing his eyes, flipping around so he was looking back up at the giant and pulling his sword off his back. Fortunately, the giant hadn’t bothered taking it, not really worrying about it any more than a human would have worried over a bee’s stinger.

Let’s hope the giant had a Jack allergy.

Time slowed as he gently fell, almost like a leaf in the wind. He pulled the end of the rope down to him, yanking Gwentell along with it. The fairy opened her mouth to shout in surprise but didn’t get a word out before he grabbed her and tossed her into his hood, then tied the end of the rope to his sword’s hilt.

Then he threw his sword at the passing giant’s belt as hard as he could.

The sword sunk in, and Jack wrapped the rope around his arm as he continued to fall for a moment, everything still slow. Finally, he let time resume and jerked into a swing straight at the giant.

His momentum slammed him into the giant’s pants hard, but he managed to hold on to a large handful of cloth. Climbing up the giant’s pants, Jack reached the belt and yanked his sword out as the giant turned back to the table below, reaching for the ladle.

The giant sniffed in loudly. “You already smell so good, little thief-son!”

The fairy snorted in his hood, and he tapped her to be quiet. The giant dropped the ladle into the stew, stirred it for a moment, then brought the ladle to his lips, full of steaming-hot non-Jack stew.

A moment later, the monster spit stew everywhere.

It was a compliment, really. Humans must really have an impressively powerful taste!

The ladle slammed into the table hard enough to throw the dishes a foot in the air, steaming hot stew flying everywhere. “WHERE ARE YOU!” the giant screamed, his fist following the ladle, and again the dishes left the table.

“He looks mad,” the fairy said, poking her head out of the hood as Jack inched around the belt towards the giant’s front.

“I can smell you! If you run, I will hunt you down to the ends of the earth or the beginnings of the sky!”

“He looks
really
mad,” Gwentell said. “I wouldn’t want to be you, man-child.”

“If he eats me, he’s getting you, too,” he whispered to her.

She stuck out her tongue at him.

The harp was so close, right there on the table. All he had to do was make his way across a raging giant, find some way up to the table, and take it. How hard could
that
be?

“I WILL CRUSH YOUR BONES ONE BY ONE!” the giant shouted, turning around and around as he searched for Jack, then began to move away from the table.

That wouldn’t work. Every step took him hundreds of feet from where he needed to be. He had to slow the giant down somehow.

Jack pulled out his sword and stabbed the giant as hard as he could right in the creature’s back.

“Uh?” the giant said, his foot stopping in midair a good twenty feet off the ground.

Oddly, the spot where Jack had stabbed the giant had already stopped bleeding. Or . . . not so oddly. Apparently Jill’s potion had done the trick. But now was not the time to worry about it, as the giant’s hand came flying in to slap the spot Jack had just attacked.

Jack leapt to the right, then grabbed the giant’s pant leg and stabbed him again, using the sword to slow his momentum by cutting the monster’s pants as he fell.

The giant slapped his leg, then yanked it up by his pants to drop the leg on a wooden chair, bending down to look for Jack.

Jack looked back up and waved. “Thanks for the ride!” he shouted. The giant shouted back, only using his hand instead of his voice, smacking his own leg as hard as he could, forcing Jack to jump for it.

He landed hard on the chair, rolling to get as far away as he could. A second slap hit just behind him, and the force sent a hurricane force wind straight into Jack, sending him up and off the chair.

He flung his arms out, reaching desperately for the chair’s edge and barely catching it with his fingers, only to have the giant bend down to look at him hanging there off the chair, his breath sending Jack swaying backward and forward with each inhale and exhale.

“You. Are. Mine.” The giant pushed a hand up from under Jack, and he fell into the giant’s palm, rolling to the center of it. The giant slowly raised his hand toward his face.

Conveniently, it also carried Jack right past something very much harpish.

“Which bone should I break first?” the giant growled, raising his free thumb right above Jack’s head. “Or shall I just go with all of them? You’ll taste just as good as a paste, I’m sure.”

“That’s awfully nice of you to say,” Jack said. “But I really can’t stay for dinner.” And with that, he stabbed the giant’s palm and leapt off the hand to the table. He quickly stood up, only to get knocked off his feet by a fairy slapping him in the face.

“You almost got us eaten!” she shouted.

Jack shook his head to clear it as the giant screamed in rage far too close. Had the fairy always been so strong?! She really packed a punch!

The giant’s screams shifted from anger to satisfaction, and both hands raised in fists above the table.

That wasn’t good.

“The harp!” Jack yelled.

“Okay?” the fairy said with a shrug. “And what do you want me to do about it?”

Jack glared at her, then dove for the golden, glinting statue just out of reach, just as the giant’s fists came down, collapsing the table out from under Jack, the harp, and the conveniently flying fairy.

Jack and the harp, at least, tumbled into nothingness, the floor coming up far too fast.

What was that song again?

He quickly strummed the harp’s strings as he fell, but despite it sounding extremely pretty, he had no idea how to make individual notes.

“Oh, just let me do it,” said the fairy from above him, diving down to meet them. As the floor drew closer and closer, and the giant’s hand came rushing down at them from above, the tiny fairy climbed over Jack’s hands and pulled one, then two, then three strings, only to lose her hold on his hand and fall off.

Abruptly, the moonlight wasn’t the only thing making the harp glow, and Jack realized for the first time that the side of it was a statue of a woman. Mostly because the statue turned to look at him with a questioning look.

“Don’t you dare leave me here!” the fairy yelled, but the giant’s dusty room turned like a page, and Jack found himself falling into a throne room filled with columns and black stone, along with quite a few people.

Jack slammed into the floor far too hard, the harp hitting right beside him. The wind went rushing out of him, and it took him a moment to remember how to breathe before he managed to push himself to a standing position, his sword out and ready for whatever he might be facing.

As it turned out, he was facing the Wicked Queen, standing before her throne. And she didn’t look surprised in the least.

“Your harp, Your Majesty,” Jack told her, breathing heavily. “As promised.”

“Jack?” whispered a voice behind him.

Jack turned around to find May, Phillip, and Penelope all staring at him, the two girls dressed in sparkling gowns, Phillip . . . not as much, all bound in iron chains and being held by goblins. Oddly, Phillip and Penelope both seemed about to take a bite out of an apple, but as soon as he appeared, their hands dropped to their sides as if something had just let go.

This was it, the same scene that the man in the final Eye challenge had shown him. The scene where he had fought Phillip, then—

“And here we all are,” the Wicked Queen said with the hint of a smile. “And now, one shall betray my granddaughter, and the other shall die. Which shall be which, I wonder?”

CHAPTER 22

I
am ready to face my death,” Phillip said, stepping forward. “Let me lay down my life that these two princesses shall be free.”

“Shut up, Phillip,” Jack said quietly, pulling out his sword. This was it. Everything he planned for all came down to this, and one mistake would make it all pointless.

“I am done listening to you,” Phillip practically spat at him as the prince pulled against his chains. “You joined the Wicked Queen, Jack. You betrayed us!”

Jack nodded. “Eventually, everyone gets tired of losing. You’ll figure it out someday.”

“I’ll kill the prince if you’d like, my Queen,” said a familiar voice, and Jill stepped out of the shadows from the Queen’s side. She grinned cruelly at Phillip. “I’d do it even if you didn’t ask me to, honestly.”

“We’re not quite there yet, my dear,” the Queen said, her eyes on Jack. “You have delivered me what I asked for, my newest Eye. And for that, I will grant a request. But what will you choose? Leaving all of this behind, leaving your friends in my care . . . or would you have me free them?”

“They’re no friends of
mine
, Your Majesty,” Jack said, gritting his teeth and deliberately ignoring the feeling of May staring right at him.

“
Don’t
do this,” she said quietly, so quietly that maybe no one else even heard her. But Jack heard her, and it made his chest ache.

“No?” the Queen asked. “You trained to be an Eye, true. You left them, and you say you want to leave this world behind as well. But I see into your heart, Jack. You would choose them, if I gave you the opportunity.” She smiled. “So I shall ask you once again—”

“You have already given him the opportunity!” Phillip shouted, struggling to free himself while the goblins laughed. “And he chose evil! Face me, Jack, for our freedom! Give me a sword, and we shall see once and for all which of us is the better man!”

Before Phillip could say another word, Jack concentrated, disappearing only to reappear at Phillip’s side. The prince didn’t even have time to move before Jack punched the royal boy right in the face. The goblins howled with laughter, dropping their chains, but the prince just smiled.

“Finally,” he said, and swung his chains straight at Jack’s head.

Jack ducked beneath them while May shouted a name.

Phillip’s.

Jack’s face pumped bright red, and he pulled his sword off his back, the weapon glowing white with just a hint of black around the edges.

“Don’t make me do this, Phillip,” Jack almost spat. “You can’t win.”

“I cannot?” the prince said, and swung out with his chains again, forcing Jack back a step. “How many stories end with the villain victorious?”

“This is
not
a story!” Jack shouted, cutting right through the chains to keep them from hitting him. “And you’re
not
the hero!”

“And you are?” Phillip asked him, circling around him, forcing Jack to circle as well. “You believe you fight for the good of all here? On the side of the WICKED QUEEN?”

One of the goblins moved to strike Phillip, but electricity spat out of the Queen’s hand, sending the goblin crashing against the wall behind it. “I think we should let these two have their discussion,” she said, and Jack could almost hear her smiling.

Phillip picked up the fallen goblin’s sword, the cut chains hanging from his wrists. “The tragedy of this is that I once considered you my friend,” the prince said, and swung out.

Jack easily slapped the sword away. “Really? That makes one of us.”

“Don’t do this,” May said, her voice low and hoarse. “Jack,
please
. . . don’t hurt him.”

He threw a glance her way, saw her tearstained cheeks, and suddenly he had trouble breathing. Why were they here now? Why did they have to see this?

“
Kill
him, Jack,” the Queen said. “Kill this prince, my Eye, and I grant you freedom from this world. I grant you a world without royalty, a world without magic, a world where a boy as clever as you would be admired far and wide.”

Phillip struck again, then again, and Jack easily parried each time, his eyes locked on Phillip’s. And then, reflected in the prince’s eyes, Jack saw blue fire.

Jack turned his head, and there, just like he’d seen six months ago in the middle of the sky in Giant’s Hand, when May had fallen right out of it, was a blue fire circle. And inside it . . . inside it were trees, a shining sun, and no sign of magic or princes.

“Kill him, my Eye,” the Queen said softly. “And you will be free to leave this all behind.”

Jack turned back to Phillip just as the prince launched a punishing series of blows. Over and over the prince struck with all his might, bashing Jack’s sword with his own, taking chunks out of his own weapon, he hit so hard. And with each hit, Jack stepped backward, toward the Queen and away from May.

“You betrayed her!” Phillip shouted, fire exploding in his eyes. “She believed in you, and you betrayed her, me, your entire world! For your own selfish gains! And now you would run from your mistakes, from your betrayals? You would FLEE?”

Jack gritted his teeth, having trouble focusing on anything beyond the prince. Who was Phillip to judge him?!

Jack sidestepped the prince’s blow and slammed the flat of his sword into Phillip’s sword arm as hard as he could. “You have no
idea
who I am,” he whispered, then kicked Phillip in the stomach, sending the prince sprawling across the floor, his sword sliding back to its unconscious goblin owner.

Jack advanced on the dazed prince, the glow of his sword slowly being replaced by a black emptiness. “You’re such a
hero
, Your Highness,” he said. “You’re so amazing, aren’t you? Doing good just comes so easily to you. We should all just love you, shouldn’t we?”

“Kill him,” the Queen said quietly, and Jack gripped his sword so tightly his knuckles turned white.

Phillip watched him advance, showing no fear, ever the perfect royal. “Kill me,” he said. “And with me, anything good or noble left in your life!”

“You’re three months too late for that,” Jack said, then looked at May—he couldn’t help it, he looked at her, then quickly turned his head.

It would have to be fast. Don’t think. Just do it as quickly as possible.

“NO!” May screamed.

“I
knew
this was who you are,” Phillip said, staring up into Jack’s eyes with absolute hatred.

“You’re more right than you know,” Jack said, raising his sword in the air. He looked one last time at May, his sword right above Phillip’s head. “Good-bye,” he whispered, then drove the sword down.

May’s chains separated cleanly in half.

“NO!” May shouted again, then stopped, looking at her now-free hands. “Wait . . . what?”

Jack grabbed Phillip by his shirt and tossed him straight at May, then cut Penelope’s chains as well. A goblin swung at him, but he ducked, time slowing as he did. Four swings later, and four goblins lay unconscious on the ground.

“GO!” he screamed at Phillip, pushing the prince into May. “Get them OUT of here!”

The Queen sighed, and the goblins’ unaware bodies rose, picking up their swords, and attacked. “I truly had high hopes for you, Jack,” the Queen said as Penelope grabbed a sword and joined Phillip against the goblins. “I knew you planned this, but I still hoped. Yet, the Mirror is never wrong, as much as I might have wished it.”

“There’s a first time for everything,” Jack said, turning away from the others, not able to look at them, knowing what was coming. “Phillip, GO!”

“Jack, come with us!” May shouted as she defended herself from the unconscious goblin’s sword. Jack turned, not sure what he could say, and caught her eye. “
Please
,” she whispered.

And then a goblin smashed his sword into her head, and she fell to the ground. The goblin brought his sword up, just as Jack had done to Phillip minutes before, holding it above May’s head.

Someone screamed, but Jack couldn’t tell who it was. The goblin’s sword paused, and Jack looked at the Queen.

She wouldn’t do it. She’d been after May this long, there’s no way she’d just let her die.

The Queen smiled at Jack, and the goblin drove his sword down.

And with that, Jack threw his sword right at the Queen’s heart.

The Queen raised a hand, and the sword froze in midair, just inches from her chest.

“Now, now,” she said. “You knew that wouldn’t accomplish anything, didn’t you?”

Behind him, the goblins’ bodies dropped back to the ground, including the one attacking May. Phillip scooped May’s unconscious body up and ran toward the door with Penelope. “Maybe not nothing,” Jack whispered.

“One will betray her, and one will die for her,” the Queen said, frowning at Jack. “If you won’t betray her, then that only leaves us one option.”

And with that, Jack’s sword reversed in midair.

Jack turned to look at Phillip and at May, her hair almost covering her face. He’d known this would happen from the moment the Queen had told May the Mirror’s words six months ago.

He couldn’t have betrayed her, not in a million years.

And with that, the Queen drove Jack’s sword right into his back.

He gasped both in pain and shock as the world turned to nothing, collapsing first to his knees, then to the floor.

“What a shame,” the Queen said, her voice sounding miles away. “You could have been truly great, Jack.”

Jack smiled weakly. She saw it coming, and she still had no idea.

And with that, Jack’s heart stopped, and he died.